Hi I'm Claire, I developed the Hands Free Pump Bra after giving birth to my daughter. Prior to giving birth I decided it was important to me that my daughter have breast milk or "B Milk" as our family calls it, but I knew running my own company and trying to nurse a child was not feasible, so I began to do some research on breast pumps.
As my pregnancy progressed I was continually asked the inevitable question, "Are you going to breast feed?" Initially I began responding with a simple "No." Because I believe this is a personal choice a Mother makes and I wasn't going to breast feed. I was going to pump. Then came long lectures of the importance of breastfeeding - mind you some of these conversations were with random people while waiting in line at the store! I starting asking other moms-to-be and apparently I'm not the only Mom-to-Be this happens to during pregnancy! So then I changed my response to "No, I'm going to pump." Even stranger looks and more questions. So I again changed my response to I'll do whatever my baby wants." That seemed to settle with most people :-)
Then I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! She unfortunately was born with some issues that put her in the NICU on several different machines and was unable to breast feed in the beginning...good thing I wanted to pump! Away I went pumping and getting ready for when she could come come off the machines and go home. Then she came home. WOW! Trying to balance 15 minutes of alone time pumping, taking care of a brand new baby, and trying to run my event business (unfortunately there's no real vacation when you own a small business - I still had emails and calls from clients!). I was wearing myself thin, but thankfully I was pumping enough milk so when my husband wasn't at work he took on the bottle feeding responsibility while I pumped and took care of everything else. Being a multitasker at heart sitting in one place for 15 minutes every 3 hours doing nothing but holding some pump horns seems so unproductive - I mean I could be checking emails or writing proposals - or yes sometime facebooking! There had to be a better answer.
I found a few groups of moms online like me - there was a name for moms who only want to pump - EP or Exclusive Pumper. I asked my EP friends what they did. Most struggled through balancing the horns and some had found two companies online that sold bras but said the bras were good but not ideal. My EP friends would have to take their shirt off or strap in with hooks that weren't comfortable. I thought, why wasn't there something simpler?
With my daughter home and unable to go into public due to her health issues I wanted to keep giving her B Milk but I needed a solution to this pumping thing! Then, after a long day of pumping interruptions and spilled B Milk as I tried to hold both pumps with one arm and type emails, I was determined to find a solution. Low and behold the Hands Free Pump Bra idea was born! It was amazing, all of a sudden I was free! I was wearing my bra underneath my clothes everyday even better, I was catching up on work, getting more done around the house - I was feeling productive. And then one day I had to get to a meeting, the morning was busy at home, the sitter showed up, and I needed to leave the house or I was going to be late! So daring as I was I made sure there were batteries were in my pump and headed out the door to pump during my commute to the meeting! Driving along I couldn't concentrate on my meeting I was so excited for what I had discovered - this was the holy grail of pumping!
My Hands Free Pump Bra allowed me to keep pumping for months beyond when I thought I was going to quit. I was a milk machine, I pumped ahead and froze enough milk that my daughter was able to have breast milk for three months AFTER I quit pumping! The bra was a miracle for me and I wanted to share it with all moms.
As my pregnancy progressed I was continually asked the inevitable question, "Are you going to breast feed?" Initially I began responding with a simple "No." Because I believe this is a personal choice a Mother makes and I wasn't going to breast feed. I was going to pump. Then came long lectures of the importance of breastfeeding - mind you some of these conversations were with random people while waiting in line at the store! I starting asking other moms-to-be and apparently I'm not the only Mom-to-Be this happens to during pregnancy! So then I changed my response to "No, I'm going to pump." Even stranger looks and more questions. So I again changed my response to I'll do whatever my baby wants." That seemed to settle with most people :-)
Then I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! She unfortunately was born with some issues that put her in the NICU on several different machines and was unable to breast feed in the beginning...good thing I wanted to pump! Away I went pumping and getting ready for when she could come come off the machines and go home. Then she came home. WOW! Trying to balance 15 minutes of alone time pumping, taking care of a brand new baby, and trying to run my event business (unfortunately there's no real vacation when you own a small business - I still had emails and calls from clients!). I was wearing myself thin, but thankfully I was pumping enough milk so when my husband wasn't at work he took on the bottle feeding responsibility while I pumped and took care of everything else. Being a multitasker at heart sitting in one place for 15 minutes every 3 hours doing nothing but holding some pump horns seems so unproductive - I mean I could be checking emails or writing proposals - or yes sometime facebooking! There had to be a better answer.
I found a few groups of moms online like me - there was a name for moms who only want to pump - EP or Exclusive Pumper. I asked my EP friends what they did. Most struggled through balancing the horns and some had found two companies online that sold bras but said the bras were good but not ideal. My EP friends would have to take their shirt off or strap in with hooks that weren't comfortable. I thought, why wasn't there something simpler?
With my daughter home and unable to go into public due to her health issues I wanted to keep giving her B Milk but I needed a solution to this pumping thing! Then, after a long day of pumping interruptions and spilled B Milk as I tried to hold both pumps with one arm and type emails, I was determined to find a solution. Low and behold the Hands Free Pump Bra idea was born! It was amazing, all of a sudden I was free! I was wearing my bra underneath my clothes everyday even better, I was catching up on work, getting more done around the house - I was feeling productive. And then one day I had to get to a meeting, the morning was busy at home, the sitter showed up, and I needed to leave the house or I was going to be late! So daring as I was I made sure there were batteries were in my pump and headed out the door to pump during my commute to the meeting! Driving along I couldn't concentrate on my meeting I was so excited for what I had discovered - this was the holy grail of pumping!
My Hands Free Pump Bra allowed me to keep pumping for months beyond when I thought I was going to quit. I was a milk machine, I pumped ahead and froze enough milk that my daughter was able to have breast milk for three months AFTER I quit pumping! The bra was a miracle for me and I wanted to share it with all moms.
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